Police urged to crackdown on criminal gangs on the loose

Machete-wielding criminal gangs prowling Mombasa and its environs unleashing serious assaults on residents of the coastal city are giving police a hard time in maintaining law and order.
Groups of vicious and seemingly intoxicated youth are roaming various suburbs terrorising business people, visitors and residents, to the chagrin of the public and the security agencies.
On Monday night, 11 people sustained serious injuries in shocking stabbing sprees reported in parts of the sprawling Kisauni suburb blamed on the drugged youth.
Mombasa County Deputy Governor (DG) William Kingi Tuesday called on the police to dismantle the notorious criminal gangs on the loose.
Dr. Kingi urged police to be tough when dealing with hardcore criminals out to disrupt peace and development in the tourist resort city.
He spoke to the press when he visited the Coast General hospital where those who were seriously injured on Monday night after they were attacked by a machete-wielding gang in Kisauni Sub County are recuperating.
The DG warned that the spat in violent crime witnessed in the recent past could spell doom for the fragile tourism industry at the coast since holidaymakers value their safety and security.
“Security agencies need to be tough when dealing with criminal elements so as to restore the confidence of the general public, visitors and the business community” he said and urged the residents to cooperate with the police as they fight crime.
Kingi announced that the county government will waive the medical bills of all those injured in the gruesome gang attack.
Coast General Hospital Chief Administrator Iqbal Khandwalla said 11 people with stab wounds were brought to the facility adding that six have since been discharged.
“The five still admitted in our wards are responding well to treatment and they are out of danger,” said the medic when he received the county administration team.
Machete-wielding violent gangs are on the loose in Kisauni, Changamwe and Likoni sub counties forcing residents to observe an unofficial dusk to dawn curfew.
By Hussein Abdullahi